The Story of RPM & The “Peloton of Functional Fitness?”

Intro

Shane and Josh Rogers are the brothers that founded RPM Training Co back in 2012 and are currently working on growing ATOM, which has been described as the “Peloton of Functional Fitness.” We chat about starting, growing, and where RPM is at today in addition to their new app, Atom. Plus, much more!

The episode can be watched on Spotify or YouTube. You can listen on Apple, Anchor, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts as well.

(0:29) Outside of Business

Shand and Josh are brothers and have many kids between them, and they are all close. Outside of business, they spend a lot of time together. They also enjoy the outdoors and live close to the ocean, and take advantage as much as they can.

(2:55) The RPM Story

While both had different backgrounds, the brothers came together to create a new rope back around 2008 after seeing issues with ropes during double unders. At that time, jump ropes weren’t made of the highest quality and typically cost between $3 and $20. They ultimately launched in 2012 at the NorCal Regionals in San Jose after a few years of development and sold out there. Shane and Josh knew they were onto something.

After the instant validation, they were able to grow at a very natural pace and saw a place for themselves within the market. The competition did creep in right away, but their patents filed helped them differentiate.

(13:26) Growing RPM

The business was bootstrapped from day 1, so there was no “rocketship launch,” but they realized the jump rope was a solid foundation to build a brand upon. They started an apparel line and added athletes to their lineup pretty early. Swimwear, technical apparel, leggings, and training shorts were added to their store.

One key to their success is that they’ve been their own customers, in addition to working in the gym setting. Therefore, they’ve been able to test, adapt, and move forward relatively easily.

(22:44) COVID

The “gym side” of their business suffered greatly and had to be closed. The e-commerce business did well, though.

Their entire company was at home during this time, but they wanted to continue their lunch workouts. They started doing workouts over Zoom together, and it ended up being a pretty good experience and ultimately led to them thinking outside of the box.

(27:05) Starting Atom

Before COVID, they had a few hard goods already in the works. In addition, while everyone was working out on Zoom together, they also realized that not everyone was using the same equipment, so their workouts were not necessarily 1 to 1 when compared to others. There were some additional factors, but they quickly figured out they could provide a solution for many others in this space.

Shane and Josh thought they were uniquely positioned to create the single source solution where someone could get their gear, programming and then deliver the workouts on a day-to-day basis all from one spot, which is now Atom.

It was ultimately released to the public at the CrossFit Games in 2021.

(31:48) What is Atom?

It combines a functional fitness training methodology, the gear needed to perform the workouts, and then the deliverability system that’ll give you the workouts and content required to complete the workouts daily. An easy way to explain it is as “The Peloton of Functional Fitness.”

A few additional topics mentioned include:

The platform can help anyone regardless of their training, experience level, or knowledge.
Each day, a coach and three athletes perform the workouts on-screen, taking each person through that class.
The leaderboard and numerous levels allow you to stay motivated.
None of the classes are “live” yet, but that is a feature that is coming.
Multiple different programs are included depending on what equipment you own. Multiple home gym kits are also available, and the workouts correlate with that. For example, the “Axis Kit” is pictured below.

(44:07) Other Miscellaneous Topics

Their team has grown significantly over the past year. Product development, design, and engineering are housed within RPM. It was built (and updated as time goes along) by their team.
This year they plan to add some additional gear and add additional programs, features, and functionality to the app.
They’ve greatly enjoyed building a company together over the past decade and know that they can trust each other through the highs and lows.